Quest Title: Save Your Subject From Themselves Quest Type: Ruler Quest Difficulty: B Quest Goal Prevent the host under your rule, [Greg Miller], from ending his own life. Time limit: 11:36:21. Quest Rewards Greg Miller's loyalty towards you shall increase by two ranks. Greg Miller shall be granted a free B-rank skill. +15 stat points in all stats.
This was the quest that Daz had received after he'd finished his breakfast.
Honestly, he wasn't sure if the system was giving him a hand here or if it was natural for a ruler with a quest-type system-upgrade to get opportunities like this. Regardless, Daz had plans for Greg, so this was the perfect time to deal with him and begin acting on those plans.
"You know everything about me? Hah. As if the system would tell you everything about me with a shitty skill like Higher Identification," Greg said as he spat on the floor then crawled back into his cot. "Leave me the fuck alone. Haven't you screwed me over enough already? I don't wanna see your stupid face ever again."
'Well, he's not entirely wrong. I gave his son legs, which Dorian has used perfectly to form a group with Crusher, the strongest person after myself. I also gave his former soldiers jobs and chances to be useful again, essentially taking them from him. I also can't forget that I took his base and gave it to a stranger, more or less, so of course he'd blame me for ruining his life,' Daz remarked internally as he pulled up Greg's status and his Secret Override secret.
In truth, he didn't know much about Greg beyond what was obvious on the surface, so he was going to see exactly what the man's description and secret would reveal about him. Regardless, he still had a plan to deal with the former U.S Army general should the information be worthless.
Greg Miller's Status Basic Information Name: Greg Miller Species: Human (Beginning stages of evolving) Age: 52 Sex: Male Class: Assault Charger Affinity: Chaotic Neutral Description
Greg is a former U.S Army general with a history of domestic abuse as well as severe alcoholism.
His childhood saw him being beaten by both his father and mother as a form of punishment, which, in those days, was fairly common, however, the man's father took things too far and left Greg in the hospital on more than one occasion, resulting in his mind being twisted ever so slightly.
His former spouse and the mother of his child, Lindsey Elkwood, ended up fleeing back to her birth country, England, when she could no longer tolerate Greg's abusive nature.
Due to winning the custody battle for their son, Dorian was forced to stay with his father, but because of how strained their relationship was, a massive rift formed between the two of them.
Greg was the former ruler of Camp Waterford but has since joined Daz's forces and spends his time wallowing in self-pity.
Energies Lifeforce: 3,000/3,000 [+1,000] Stamina: 4,000/4,000 [+1,500] Stats Accuracy: 200(240) [+140] Dexterity: 250(300) [+190] Strength: 300(360)[+240] Charisma: 100 [+50] Endurance: 100 [+50] [New!] Wisdom: 50 [New!] Bravery: 50 [New!] Leadership: 50 Loyalty: None The host has 2 unused stat slots.
Randomly selected [Greg Miller] secret: He doesn't see himself as being worthy enough to face his son again with the big difference in their current capabilities, so he intends to end his life to rid the world of one more piece of useless garbage.
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"Greg, I want you to know that you are, indeed, utterly useless as you are right now," Daz said in a cold tone.
"If you know that, then get the fuck out of my sig-"
"As you are right now, yeah," Daz interrupted. "But can an inherently useless man really rise up the ranks and become a general in the U.S Army? Even with personal connections, it would take real skill and talent to accomplish that."
Greg scoffed and rolled over in his cot, leaving his back to face Daz. "So? Like who I was or what I did in the old world matter at all. I was a general, now I'm a drunk. You were an employee here helping people dump their trash, but now you're a king. If you only wanna patronise me, then I'll spare you the effort. I already know how 'great' I used to be."
Daz smiled. "You can be great again. You can earn Dorian's trust again. All you have to do is exactly what I tell you to."
The reaper turned around and said one final thing before he left, "You have a choice; make something of yourself, or die here tonight by your own hand. I hardly care which one you choose, so I'll leave the decision up to you."
Greg's torso bolted up after hearing Daz's words. "How... How did you know?"
Daz tapped the side of his head with his index finger and maintained his smile as he said, "I know everything about you, Greg. If you choose to become something truly special, then ask for me in the keep tomorrow morning before the next cycle starts."
With that said, he left the speechless middle-aged man to his own thoughts then exited the dungeon.
Sitting there on his bed, Greg muttered, "I can... earn Dorian's trust again?" He looked at the liqueur and whiskey bottles littering the area around his cot and wore a complicated expression on his face. "Do... Do I really want that?"
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Upon reaching the surface, Daz saw some of his soldiers immediately running towards him with somewhat panicked looks on their faces.
"Y-Your Majesty!" one of the men said as he saluted. "Um, Crusher has returned with some... guests?"
Daz wore a confused expression. "Guests? Where?"
"Yes, Your Majesty! She's currently outside of the outer fort's portcullis. The Guardia-, Ahem, Rimmy stopped her, Dorian, Edward, and the guests, from entering since the guests weren't with you nor are they your citizens... We weren't really sure what to do."
Daz sighed softly. "Return to your posts. I'll go talk to her."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the guards all replied. They didn't move until Daz had left them, which unnerved him a little bit.
He enjoyed being a ruler, but the honorifics and excessively polite attitudes were a little bit cumbersome. He understood it since they were all very loyal to him considering how much he had been focusing on upgrading the barracks, but still, it unsettled him.
Regardless of those thoughts, the young reaper walked through Fort Skip until he found himself outside of the base. Once there, he placed himself next to Rimmy's core who was staring silently at Crusher, Dorian, Edward, and about forty men and women.
These unfamiliar people looked a bit... rough around the edges. Some seemed to size Daz up, while others were excited to see him in the flesh. On top of that, a good portion of them were shaking upon seeing the reaper.
'Quite the chaotic bunch, huh?' Daz thought as he said, "Mind introducing me to your friends, Crusher?"
"They're what's left of who was ruling the remaining cities and towns in the rest of Inyo County. Everyone else is dead, but these guys wanted to join us, so I said 'sure'," Crusher casually replied with a grin.
Daz held his chin and used The Crystal Digger's Master Identification, Archreaper's Gaze, and Secret Override on everyone.
After a minute of awkward silence, Daz said, "Crusher, twelve of them are Evil, and every single one has raped, wrongly killed, or robbed before. I can't let them in."
A few of the people looked a bit worried and scared after hearing Daz say that so coldly, while Dorian just sighed and walked up to the wall and leaned against it. "We should have killed them all. I knew Daz wouldn't accept them."
Edward remained silent, but he nodded and then joined his fellow one-armed man in leaning against the wall.
Crusher put her hammer down and enlargened its shaft so that she could rest her hands and chin on its pommel. "I want my own soldiers. I'll whip them into shape. I've been loyal to ya, haven't I? If even one of them steps out of line, feel free to kill 'em all."
Daz held his neck and wore an unsure grimace. A few seconds later, he answered the towering woman. "Okay, but Gamma will stay with you and keep an eye on them. If they don't cause any trouble in, let's say... 2-months, then I'll stop observing them. The Evil ones have 2-weeks to become neutral, or I'm blacklisting them, meaning the massive walls here will attack them until they either leave or die."
Crusher laughed. "Hahaha! Cheers, Uriel. I wasn't gonna waste the favour you owed me, so I was worried I'd have to kill these sorry sacks of shit myself. I'm actually really looking forward to being a leader of a band of ruffians. Don't worry about the Evil ones. If they don't change in 2-weeks, I'll treat their heads like watermelons and my hammer like a bat."
The twelve men and women in question all shivered. If they had any other option, they'd rather have taken it and not joined Crusher in coming back here to one of the most powerful men in the world, but it was either that or die, so they didn't really have a choice.
"By the way, who's Gamma?" Crusher asked as she shrunk her hammer and strapped it to her belt like a keychain.
Daz waved his hand, making his newest clone appear. "This is Gamma."
"Oh, cool. So you've got three now? Maybe you really are stronger than me? Wanna duel?" Crusher asked.
Daz shook his head. "I have business with Edward."
"With Barbarossa? Okay. After that then? I'm itching for a good fight. It's been ages. Not since that massive sandworm, I think?" Crusher asked rhetorically as she looked up in contemplation.
"I don't mind fighting you tomorrow before the attack starts. In the meantime, why don't you fight Rimmy?" Daz suggested.
Crusher shrugged. "Sure, that sounds good. By the way, why's he kinda black? I forgot to ask during the auction."
"He ate something bad for him. He's busy digesting it," Daz answered jokingly. "Anyway, I'll register these people as my citizens. Gamma, make sure none of them leaves your or Crusher's side. You have my permission to use Reflective Justice Chains to punish them if they can't do at least that much. Also, tell Heather about them and have them all sleep in the same section of the dungeon so you can keep an eye on them when they sleep as well."
"Order received, Original," the clone politely replied.
With that, Daz proceeded to accept all of the 44 people as his citizens. While he did that, Dorian and Edward talked and Crusher amused herself with Gamma - who wasn't very responsive to her jokes and questions.
Once he was finished, Daz entered Fort Skip with only Edward. Dorian was perfectly happy helping Crusher and Gamma babysit the new citizens, so he stayed outside as Crusher got ready to fight Rimmy.
Just before Daz and Edward walked through Fort Skip's northern adamantine portcullis, Daz made sure to warn Crusher not to kill Rimmy if he proved to be far weaker than herself. He had faith in Rimmy, but he also wasn't stupid. He didn't want one of Rimmy's limited lives being wasted on a friendly duel.
If he could avoid spending merit points on replacing that life, then obviously he would. A million merit points was nothing to sneeze at even if he had over 100,000,000 in total right now.
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"So, where are we going to talk about Jenna, specifically?" Edward asked while he and Daz walked. "I assume that's what this is about."
"The graveyard," Daz replied.
"Really? That's a bit morbid," the former cop said as he scratched his clockwork arm, presumably due to phantom pains.
Daz shrugged uncaringly. "Ellie should be there with the body of her mother. I promised her I'd try to bring her mom back too, so I figured we'd rebury her with her husband and daughter."
Edward looked a bit surprised. "Will I need Jenna's body too to bring her back?"
"I don't know yet," Daz answered, "but it certainly wouldn't hurt," he added.
"Huh... I guess I'm lucky then... Who'd have thought getting sentimental and keeping her body in a fucking skill instead of burying her might have actually been the right choice?" Edward seemed both sad and happy all at once after saying that.
Daz didn't respond since he had nothing more to say on the subject, so the two men silently made their way to the central-fort where both Ellie and the graveyard were.